Three DAXs have obtained conditional approval from the SC and given 9 months to fully comply with the SC’s requirement to operate in the country

by AFIQ AZIZ/ pic by BLOOMBERG

THERE has been a heightened interest among Malaysians on cryptocurrency investments following the authority’s conditional approval on three Digital Asset Exchanges (DAXs) last month.

The three DAXs; Sinegy Technologies (M) Sdn Bhd, Singapore-based Tokenize Technology (M) Sdn Bhd and Luno Malaysia Sdn Bhd, have obtained conditional approval from the Securities Commission Malaysia (SC) where exchanges were given nine months to fully comply with the SC’s requirement to operate in the country.

Luno South-East Asia GM David Low said since last month, the operator has been receiving high queries and interest about its operating platform and cryptocurrencies market from local investors, as well as ordinary Malaysians.

“We have many queries from investors…it has definitely increased, and our investors mostly ask when will they be able to sign up and deposit their money again,” he told The Malaysian Reserve in an emailed reply last week.

“More like triple queries have been received,” Low said compared to preSC’s conditional approval days.

Low expects more Malaysians would open up to the possibility of investing in cryptocurrency, as the government’s regulation would provide a guideline for the industry.

“Luno fully supports the SC’s position in cautioning the public against investing in any unauthorised initial coin offerings (ICOs), or purchase any cryptocurrencies from unauthorised DAX,” he added.

Last week, the SC noted that the increase in the number of queries and complaints from members of the public regarding ICOs and DAX.

The SC reiterated that the public to be wary of any individual offering ICOs, stating it has not authorised any ICOs pending the finalisation of its guidelines.

“Any offerings of digital assets, as well as its associated activities such as marketing or inducing others to subscribe to an ICO would require authorisation from the SC,” it said.

Apart from the three DAX operators, the SC said no other online platforms are permitted to establish and operate a DAX in Malaysia currently.

“As such, all other DAX operators are required to immediately cease all activities related to the trading of digital assets and return all monies and assets collected from investors,” it added.

DAX is the platform to facilitate digital asset trading, including cryptocurrency, while ICO is a type of fundraising tool to venture into new cryptocurrency.

Prior to this, another DAX operator, Sinegy Technologies, has also forecasted a healthier development in the local cryptocurrency market.

Sinegy Technologies head of institutional sales John Sidoli said the company aims to attract more than 10,000 new investors, immediately after they received full SC approval and further 30,000 accounts holder by June 2020.

Those conditional-licensed DAXs were granted to trade only three digital coins which are bitcoin, etheruem and ripple.

Being the most popular of all crypto currencies, bitcoin, was traded at US$11,231 (RM46,496) yesterday afternoon, according to Coinmarketcap.com, giving it a market capitalisation of US$205.9 billion. It is triple than what was recorded in January.

In December 2017, the mother of digital coin value jumped 19-fold to reach about US$19,000.

Meanwhile, Low said Luno’s effort to obtain the SC’s full approval is in progress and is expected to receive a go by the third quarter this year.

With the full approval, it will allow Luno accounts holder to start their investment in the platform. Currently, all depositing activities are prohibited by the SC.

“Investors in Malaysia should wait until Luno obtains a full approval from the SC. Once we obtain full approval, we will then allow Malaysian investors to deposit ringgit and buy cryptocurrencies,” Low said.